


A Mutual Agreement

by sparzapp



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Headcanon, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29705601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparzapp/pseuds/sparzapp
Summary: Adrien wants to move out and learn how to live on his own, but can't due to Gabriel withholding his savings until Adrien gets married.Marinette got scammed and is getting evicted from her design studio/apartment and has nowhere to go and no money to use.The two run into each other after years apart and get a crazy idea.OR I have watched too many K-Dramas with fake relationships and this idea got stuck in my head.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 15
Kudos: 51





	1. An Unknown Agreement and A Fake One

**Author's Note:**

> This idea got stuck in my head and I had to write it. The characters are around 25 in this. The events of Miracle Queen didn't happen here because I don't wanna deal with the logistics of it lol.

“Father, I want to talk to you about something”, Adrien said to the familiar sight of the back of Gabriel Agretes chair. 

Adrien had spent the years since high school somehow busier than before. His life had turned into a whirlwind of modeling, college, and learning how to run the family business. On top of his duties as Chat Noir, he barely had time to sleep, let alone keep up with his friends or do normal things young twenty-somethings do. Now that he had graduated from college and gotten his Masters in Business, he had something he never had before, time. And with that time, he intended to learn how to become a real person. He was tired of having everything handled for him, having his every move scheduled and having his every second accounted for.

He was ready to live alone, to make his own choices and to make his own mistakes. Not only that, but he wanted to be able to roam free as Chat Noir without being scared he would get caught, as there had been many close calls. 

“What is it Adrien? I do not have much time, get on with it.” Gabriel said, waving a hand, not looking up from the tablet he was staring at. 

Adrien clenched his fist and nodded his head with resaulut. “Father, I am moving out.”

That caught Gabriel's attention. He turned his chair, set down his tablet and folded his hands together, resting them under his nose hiding his mouth as he cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, you are? Privy tell me, how.”

“Well, I have quite a bit of money in my savings. I have been looking for apartments in the area and have found a few to my liking. I will still model and work for Gabriel, but I need to grow up. I need to set out on my own and learn things. I need to make my own mistakes, find my own path. I know that I can’t do that at Gabriel, but let me at least do that in my free time.” Adrien said, repeating the words he had rehearsed with Plagg and to the mirror.

Gabriel started for a moment, contemplating the boy ahead of him. Adrien maintained eye contact, making sure to keep his gaze firm, but not angry. He thanked his many years of modeling for the ability to maintain the look for so long, as he wanted to cower from the domineering man's gaze. “Mm. Adrien, have you read the terms and conditions on your savings?” 

Adrien stilled. He had no idea what his father was alluding to. Gabriel smirked and brought his hands down to the table. He stood and strode over to a set of filing cabinets and rifled through them until he brought out a contract.

“This here is the contract for the account we set up for your savings. It was quite some time ago so I suppose it makes sense as to why you do not remember. When we set it up, I stipulated that you will be unable to access it unless one of the following happened: 1, I die an untimely death in which ownership would shift to you 2, I become otherwise unable to control the funds i.e. a coma or some sort of incapacitation, or 3, when you were married. To my knowledge none of these stipulations have been met have they?” 

Gabriel handed Adrien the contract. Adrien speechlessly thumbed through it, wrapping his brain around when he had signed this, and why he had not fought the stipulations. He had never thought about access to his money. When he bought things, he simply used the card his father had given him long ago. He had always thought that when he wanted to use his savings he simply… could. 

He reached one of the last pages and saw his signature. It seemed simpler, and less mature. He looked next to it and saw that he had signed it when he was 12 years old, which explains why he did not seem to care about or understand the stipulations or the implications of the contract. 

“Now if you were to get married, I would happily let you go live with your wife with access to all the hard earned money you have saved. But at the moment, this has not happened. I have given you many options have I not. You were even engaged to Ms. Tsurugi for some time, but alas, that fell through for whatever reason you two said. I have introduced you to many wonderful ladies, but you always turned them down. Now, perhaps you will be more inclined to take these setups seriously.”

Adrien was crestfallen, he never could take the setups seriously because he was still in love with Ladybug, though he had given up on a relationship years ago. He knew that the women would never measure up to her and he thought it would be unfair to them to hold them to such an impossible standard. Him and Kagami did love each other, and have a special connection, but they both knew that it was not a romantic connection. Adrien was completely in love with someone else, and Kagami could not bring herself to marry a man. 

They both ultimately decided to end things with one another after being together for 5 years. They were still friends and supported one another. Adrien had even told his dad that he was in love with someone else, though refused to tell him who, when they had broken up. Gabriel was not pleased, but as Kagami had came out as a lesbian (much to the chagrin of her mother), he did not push the matter further at the time.

Adrien shook the shock out of him and strengthened his resolve. “Father, how could you have done this? I was twelve when I signed this. I was just excited to have a bank card! I didn’t understand what any of this meant!”

“I did it to protect you. I know what's best for you Adrien, and I knew that you would get some ideas into your head. I’m surprised it took you this long to ask. Now, I need to get back to work. I expect the report on my desk by 5” Gabriel said brushing off Adriens feelings as always. Adrien felt his anger rising and quickly left, knowing that he needed to calm down and refocus, unless an akuma targeted him. Ladybug had warned him of how bad it could be if he was.

He stormed out of the office, pushing past a shocked Nathalie and he left the building. He just kept walking and walking. Not really knowing where he was heading. He had too many thoughts running through his head and he needed to process tham. He knew his father was manipulative, but he had no idea it was this bad. After walking for an hour, he found himself in the warehouse district.

“Finally, you're alone. I’ve been waiting for you to get out of a crowded area this whole time kid”, Plagg chided, zipping out of Ariens shirt. 

“Oh, sorry Plagg, I was kinda lost in my thoughts.”

“That much was obvious. Are you okay? That didn’t go exactly as planned… That father of yours is the absolute WORST! Worse than a cheese section with no Camebret.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and smiled at Plaggs' attempt to lighten the mood, though the smile quickly faded. He slumped against a random building and buried his head in his hands. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Plagg. I can’t keep living there, especially after knowing how deep this goes. I need to get out of there, but he essentially owns me.”

“Just get married. Boom. Problem solved.” Plagg said with a shrug.

“I can’t just get married, Plagg. Marriage is a commitment to someone you love. It symbolizes an eternal bond between two people. I can’t just marry someone out of convenience.” Adrien retorted.

“Why not? I mean half the girls in Paris would marry you in a heartbeat. You’re disgustingly famous. Honestly, you have an easier time being incognito as Chat Noir and you're covered in leather and have cat ears on as him. Just ask one of them.”

“You don't get it Plagg. I’m sure I could find someone, but that's not what I want. I want to do this so I can learn to be on my own. I don’t just want to marry someone to have my money. I want to grow, and develop and be myself. If I marry some random girl, they will just want me for the image of me. For my money and the fame.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell ya kid. There's a simple solution here,-” Whatever Plagg was going to say next was cut off by a cry. 

“Plagg, hide!” Adrien called, opening his jacket slightly for Plagg to climb in. 

“Evicted?! What do you mean! I signed a 12 month lease!” A shrill female voice called from the street. 

“I don’t know what you signed, but the lease that matters is this one, and it is up. You have a week to get out.” A man responded sternly

“But, but, please, you don’t understand! I spent all my savings on the security deposit. This is all I have. You can't do this please.” The voice responded, losing some volume and sounding more desperate. Adrien inched closer, wanting to hear more. Partially out of curiosity, but also to look out for an akuma, as this was a situation that could easily be taken advantage of by Hawkmoth.

“Sorry lady, you got scammed. The guy renting this place out had a business that failed and skipped town. He probably saw a gullible girl and took advantage of her. The new leasers will be here in a week so you gotta get out. You’re lucky I’m even giving you that long, since technically you’ve been squatting.” The man retorted. Adrien saw him retreat to a car a drive away. 

The female voice said to herself, “What am I going to do?” She sounded desperate and sad. “I can’t move back in with Maman and Papa. They are already using my room for the new apprentice. I don't have any more money saved up and I can’t finish the commissions I have without the workspace.” the voice sounded familiar to Adrien. He decided to go and check in on the girl who was having a worse day than him.

“Uh, hey, are you okay?” Adrien called out as he walked over, not wanting to scare the girl. She was sitting on the ground facing away from him. She had long bluish hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail and was wearing a jean jacket with koi fish embroidered on the back in painstaking detail over a white crop top. She wore simple high waisted black shorts with red fishnet tights underneath that climbed up her torso ending somewhere under her shirt and some black combat boots. She froze at his words, tensing up. “I heard what happened. I can’t believe that that happened to you. I’m sorry.”

The girl slowly turned her head. Her cheeks were stained with tears and streaked mascara. Her baby blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She had obviously been crying. When she had fully turned, her mouth fell open and she gasped out, “Adrien?”


	2. An Agreement is Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien catch up and make a plan.

Marientte was shocked. Of anyone in Paris, of course she had to run into her high school crush. Although Marinette was over him (at least that is what she told herself and everyone around her, she would always love him a little) she immediately blushed at the sight of him. Once she had started dating Luka and Adrien started dating Kagami, Marinette had begun the process of getting over the model. It was hard at first, but as she fell more in love with Luka and Adrien did with Kagami she felt her feelings fading. In their last year of high school, Marinette and Adrien were able to truly be friends with every intention of staying so, but Gabriel had other plans. 

After high school, Adrien was barely able to stay in contact with any of his friends. He was so busy with work and school that he all but disappeared from their lives. Marinette was busy doing her own thing anyway. “Marinette?” Adrien responded in shock, closing the gap between the two and crouching down to eye level offering a handkerchief to her because of course he had one.

Of course Marinette had kept up with fashion and had seen his face all over Paris so she knew what he looked like now, but that didn’t make him any more breathtaking. His face had sharpened and his hair had darkened slightly. He had changed from a boy to a man. He was sporting a light weight dark green bomber jacket and a simple black shirt underneath. He was wearing black jeans and brown boots. She grabbed the handkerchief and quickly tried to clean up her face.

“Long time no see.” He said with an awkward laugh as he did his signature head scratch. “I uh heard everything that happened. Are you okay?” Adrien asked again awkwardly. 

Marinette let out a snort not knowing how to respond, “I mean obviously not. I got scammed out of all my money, my home, and my workplace, so overall pretty shitty day.”

“I’m with you on that.” Adrien said and settled against the wall. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Marinette cleaned up her face and cleared her nose. She did some breathing exercises to calm herself. She didn’t need this day to get worse. 

Once she was centered she moved to lean against the building wall with Adrien, instead of sitting in the middle of the street like she was. She pulled her knees in close to her body and rested her chin on her knees. She let out a sigh, “What am I gonna do? I only have a week to find a new place and money to pay for it. I’m fucked.” She said as she covered her eyes with her hands. 

“What about your parents? Or are you still friends with Alya or Luka?” Adrien asked, trying to be helpful.

“My parents house is full. My Papa took on an apprentice after I left so they could pick up some of the slack that I did. Part of the deal was room and board so my bedroom is now theirs. Alya lives in a studio and barely has room for her bed let alone me and my designing. And uh, Luka is on tour in America I think. We don't talk all that much.” Marinette said resting her hands on her knees and her head on top of them.

Adrien shifted in his position, “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I just- you guys were together for so long I kinda assumed… sorry.” He said, averting his gaze.

Marinette shot up and looked over waving her hands. “Oh, its nothing like that, you don’t have to apologize. We dated for a long time and were in love. It was nice. After high school he was making a name for himself in music with Jagged Stone and I was designing for them. We had a lot of good times, but we kinda realized we wanted different things. He wanted to see the world, play all the great stages and I wanted to stay in Paris'' to protect it, Marinette added to herself, “and build a name for myself here near my family and friends. We just kinda drifted. No hard feelings.”

“Oh that makes sense. Kinda the same deal with me and Kagami, but you know, different reasons.” Adrien responded. 

Marinette blushed slightly and looked away, knowing full well what reason they were as her and Kagami had fully explored the main reason that they had broken up. “Uh.. yeah. I uh heard about that, “ She added a nervous laugh. Adrien gave her an inquisitive look but Marinette was saved by a rumble between the two. Adrien turned red and put his hand to his stomach. “Are you hungry?” Marinette asked quickly, changing the subject. 

“Yeah, I’ve been walking around for a while and kinda forgot to eat. I was distracted by other things.” He said rubbing the back of his head.

“Come on, I’ve got some food upstairs. Might as well eat it so I don’t have to pack it.” Marinette added with a groan as she got up and offered Adrien a hand. She led him into a hallway and then up the stairs. The door opened to a sprawling room that she had sectioned off into three different areas. She had a workshop where she had a few commissions in the works, an area with a desk setup with an impressive computer adjacent to an area that looked to be for filming or photoshoots, the last area was a living area with a bed, table, couch and tv. 

It was an odd space, but Marinette loved it. It made everything easier for her with it in one area and since it was in the warehouse district she had gotten a ton of space for her rent, or so she had thought. Plus it had large windows along the walls that made being the superhero of Paris much easier. 

She invited Adrien to sit with a gesture and began to prepare some food. The space had a small kitchenette that she had expanded with a rolling island and some appliances. “I had bought some steak and wine to celebrate finally being fully moved in. Would that be good for you? I have some dough for some rolls as well and I could whip up a salad or something as well.”

“That sounds wonderful!”, Adrien replied as he watched her intently, “Could I help? I don’t really know how to cook and I would love to learn.” Adrien asked.

“Sure, it's nothing too hard but that would be fine. Do you want to start cutting up these veggies?” Marinette asked handing him some romanie, onions, carrots, and other assorted vegetables. She put on some Jagged Stone and started to apply some seasoning to her steak as a dry rub and prepping the pan.   
Adrien grabbed the vegetables and cutting board and began to cut them. Marinette looked over at him after a few minutes and couldn’t help but laugh. He was fully focused on the task at hand, tongue poking out the side as he precisely lined the knife up. He had barely gotten through the carrots, which were all cut very uneven and wonky. At Marinette's laugh he looked up inquisitively. “What is so funny?” he asked

“Wow, you weren’t joking when you said you don’t know how to cook. Here, let me show you some knife tricks.” She said and demonstrated proper knife handling and showed some basic knife skills. He had caught on fairly quickly and within 30 minutes the two had a nice dinner ready.

They brought the food over to the table and Marinette grabbed out some wine glasses and some red wine. “Would you like some wine?”

\-------

“That would be very much appreciated after this day.”, Adrien had responded. When Marinette was setting the table, he finally took some time to check his phone. He had several missed calls and messages. Mostly from Nathalie and his Bodyguard, but the most recent one was a message from his father. It simply said: You have a photoshoot tomorrow at 11am. You will be there and then after you will come to my office. This behaviour is unacceptable. I expect you to act your age Adrien. The message sent shivers down his spine. There were only a few times that Adrien had gotten messages from his father directly and it always meant that he was in deep.

Adrien had managed to forget about the fight with his father over the last hour with Marinette. He was having an amazing time catching up with his old friend and they had so much to talk about. Marinette told him how she was the designer for Jagged Stone and all the people on his tour out of high school, which had thoroughly impressed him. Adrien had known that Marinette was an amazing designer, but he did not know how successful she had become. 

Since she was so busy with the commissions from Jagged she had decided to put off going to college. She explained to Adrien how she would design all day and had unlimited access to the shows. But, since she wasn’t in school and didn’t really have a 9-5 (other than helping out her family at the bakery but she just did that when they really needed help) she ended up spending most of her time alone in her room she started to get lonely. In order to cure her loneliness she started to stream while she worked. She started to gain popularity online and she grew it into a sort of career. She would make videos about her designs, her time with rockstars, and do collabs with other influencers, usually musicians, designing outfits for them. On top of that she would take on commissions and had a store where she would sell random things she made on stream. All of this had culminated in Marinette making a name for herself online and she was rather successful.

“That seems so cool! I would kill for a job like that. You get to make your own rules and decisions. You can do whatever you want and do what you love. That sounds amazing.” Adrien exclaimed after she had finished explaining as he sipped on his 2nd glass of wine.

“That part is pretty great, but it's a lot of work. I’m always busy doing things and I feel like I never have free time. I wouldn’t give it up for anything else though. I love making people's dreams reality. Plus, I can sleep whatever strange hours I want.” She said with a giggle. She then visibly deflated, “But I have no idea how I’m gonna maintain it without a space. Ugh, how am I gonna find a place to go in a week. This is a disaster.” She finished her glass and poured another, emptying the bottle. “I don’t wanna think about it right now. Tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“Well, after high school I went to college and fast tracked a master in business. When I wasn’t in class I was modeling and learning how to run the company. I am just a cog in the Gabriel machine. I honestly have not had this much time to myself in years, and I wasn’t even supposed to have it.” Marinette gave a inquisitive eyebrow raise to Adrien as she sipped more wine. 

Adrien let out a sigh and finished his own glass of wine. Marinette noticed and grabbed another bottle from the cabinet offering him more that he happily accepted. “I kinda stormed out on my dad. I told him I wanted to move out and he refused. I was planning on just doing, but then he revealed to me something pretty fucked.” He was letting out more information then he normal would have, but the drink had loosened his lips some. 

Marinette had set her glass down and was looking at him sternly. Adrien reflected to the end of highschool and his friends' opinions on Gabriel. They hadn’t let much slip, but he knew that they all hated his guts and thought he was a terrible, manipulative person. Adrien wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he kinda agreed. “Essentially he tricked me into signing a contract as a child that said I couldn’t have my savings until he died or I got married. I never really realized because I always had money on me, but I guess that was my allowance from my father. He refuses to let me have it and is trying to marry me off to some rich lady.”

Marinette slammed her hands on the table and stood up. Her eyes were burning with rage and wine and her mouth was agape. “How could he do that? You have worked more than anyone else I know. He forced you to work a fulltime job as a child! You deserve so much better than that dick of a father. I can’t believe I ever looked up to him. He’s such a terrible person, and from what I have heard in the industry, and terrible boss.” Marinette was pacing back and forth and then she looked over at Adrien seeing his downcast look.

He knew his father wasn’t a good guy, but he still loved him and he was the only family he had left. Marinette deflated seeing him like that, “I’m sorry. I know he’s your dad, I shouldn’t say those things. How is that even legal though?”

“Well, what I gathered form when I briefly was looking at it was that my savings account was opened in his name with those stipulations. Since I was a kid, all the money I made went into there. I had assumed that I would be able to access it when needed and I continued to put my money into that account, without knowing it was under my fathers name and not mine. I’ll be changing that in the morning but it’ll take a while for me to start earning money. I’ll talk to a lawyer as well because it feels kinda illegal to make a kid agree to something like that. But my father is rich and I’m sure he has plenty of lawyers ready to fight any action I take. “ Adrien replied

“Wow. That’s absurd. I can’t believe he would do that. It seems so slimy.” Marinette brought her hand to her mouth to prevent further insults from leaking out. “Sorry, I need to stop saying bad things, it's not helping”

“I mean you're not wrong. It’s just hard for me to hate him, he's the only family I have. I can’t keep living like this, but I can’t get out of the contract and my father is in good health and I am very single. Plus, I don’t just want to marry some girl my father sets me up with. I want marry for love and I can’t fall in love with someone if I barely know myself” Also, I’m in love with someone who only looks to me as her partner and I can’t get over her even though it's been 10 years and it would be unfair to the other person, Adrien said to himself. 

The two sat in silence for a second and sipped their wine. Marinette broke the silence after a moment, “Well… couldn’t you marry some random person? I’m sure you could find someone. You could make some sort of agreement and get divorced after the appropriate amount of time. Like be ‘married’” Marinette said the word with air quotes, “for like 2 years and then call it off afterwards. Make it more of a contract.”

“I thought about that earlier, but I wouldn’t want to do that to some random person. Plus, there is a high chance of that becoming a scandal and me being found out. It would need to be someone who could dupe my father. He knows that I wouldn’t just marry someone and I’m sure he could find a loophole if I tried something like that. I would need to do it with someone I trust and know well enough to put up a convincing act. But I wouldn’t want to ask anyone to do that.” Adrien responded voicing his thoughts that had been zooming through his mind.

His father wasn’t dumb, and Adrien knew that he wouldn’t be able to get away with marrying someone random. His father would protest the marriage and likely get it annulled. Adrien had been racking his brains all day trying to think of someone he could ask. His best bets at the moment were Kagami, which he knew would not work, or Chloe, which he was scared of even considering.

Marinette stared into her glass for a moment then spoke up. “What about me?” She said quietly. Adrien almost didn’t catch it. Marinette brought her gaze up to Adrien's, resolve shining behind her eyes. “Think about it. We have known each other forever. I was one of your first friends! You could tell your dad that we have been in love since high school, and secretly dating for years. Remember when you were backstage at a Jagged show 3 years ago for a PR thing? Well I was there too. We could say that we reconnected there and have been dating since. We kept it secret because we are both public figures and we didn’t want our fans to know! It would be a good cover!” Marinette rattled off barely taking a breath.

Adrien was stunned. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind but it did make perfect sense. He remembered going to that show. It was one of the more fun photo shoots he had ever done, though he didn’t realize that Marinette was there. The logic was there, they knew each other pretty well and the story checked. But it still felt strange. “I don’t know Marinette… I couldn’t ask you to do that for me. I haven't talked to you in so long. It's been years since we saw each other. It's too much to ask.”

“Well, that is true, but we can catch up. Plus, I think it could help me too. What if we made it a deal. I need a place to live and some help getting back on my feet. What if you thought of it as a business agreement. If you provide me with a roof over my head and a work space, I’ll be your fake wife. We need each other so it's not an abuse. Plus, even though we haven't talked much, you're still my friend and I want to help you. I’ll always care about you.” Marinette responded. Her face was turning a slight red. Adrien wasn’t sure if it was because of the wine or something else. 

He thought for a second, “You’re making a good point. I don’t think anyone else would work as well as you. And framing it like that does make me feel a bit better. We’re helping one another out of shitty spots. It would be nice to have someone help me learn how to be a real person too.”

“I don’t know if I’m the best person for that job. I can barely keep myself afloat. But I can definitely teach you how to do laundry or whatever other normal things you wanna know.” Marinette responded with a giggle.

Adrien locked eyes with her looking for any doubt as he said, “You do understand what this entails. We will have to act the part. We would have to live together, pretend to be in love. This will go public at some point. You could get backlash from my fans. You’ll also have to deal with my father, who can be, as you said, kinda a dick. Are you sure you want to do this? We will have to keep up this act for at least until I get the legal side of everything figured out, which could take a while.” Adrien asked, staring into her eyes and grabbing her hands. He needed to see her confirmation not just hear it. He couldn't;’t do this to someone if they weren’t 100% sure.

Marinette took a second, returning the stare. He sees in her eyes that cogs working, deep thought evident, and then after a second her gaze shifted to assurance. With confidence that he had only ever seen from Ladybug, Marinette said, “I’m all in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Sorry this took awhile. I was busy with finals (I'm on a weird school schedule) and life. Hope you enjoyed! Also, I want to say that some of the logic may not be perfect about the contract and other things, but I'm just using it as a story device. I'm just writing this for fun so anything that seems sketch, (like a child signing a contract) write it off as rich people have too much money and can do whatever they want haha. Also, do you prefer longer chapters more spread out or shorter chapters more often?  
> Thank you so much for the support, I honestly didn't expect anyone to read this so I am very happy and grateful for you all!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I already have chapter 2 ready, I just wanna get a bit more prepared. Its gonna be a long story but I think it'll be a fun ride! Sorry if there are mistakes, I am bad a proofreading...


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